Spread Like Wildfire [Requesting Exit]

[Uchiha Kouhei]

The day after Domen Nobu fetched his passport from the office, a rag-clad little hump carrying a large backpack wandered up from the ravaged passageway between Sunagakure and the surface. Well, the part of the surface Sunagakure proper hadn't grown out to. Even with the village burgeoning out of the subterranean caverns it had spent so much time in, the Toraono Dojo remained the true village gate, and thus the only way a shinobi could legitimately exit the village.

Beneath the rags was Domen Nobu, genin of Sunagakure. Though the boy's choice of attire had been intended to allow him to escape without being recognized, he failed to realize that it also happened to look fairly stupid. The moth-eaten brown cloth would protect him from the desert sun and the occasional sandstorm, but between his backpack full of travel supplies and the hunched posture he had adopted to make himself seem smaller, it was as if a pile of dirty laundry had grown legs and picked up some luggage.

Tucked inside of his pocket were his passport - both crystal and physical - and the scroll of family history he'd found hidden in the Domen estate archives. Nobu leaned from one leg to the other nervously as he arrived at the gate's waiting area. Someone had to let him out of the village gates officially. While Nobu had ventured outside of the village limits before, this would probably also function as some form of registration that he had left. Hopefully they would come soon. The longer he waited to leave, the bigger the chance his family would intercept him. He'd left a note for his parents, of course, and his mother would no doubt be furious...

[MFT, WC: 284]

 

[Ryu Hime]

Nobu waits and waits; minutes turns into hours and day turns into night. Nobu likely growing more nervous by the second at the thought of his parents coming to stop him. Soon a figure could be seen approaching the gates holding a lantern. As the person came closer he would see that is was a masked woman, but was not dressed in the normal Anbu attire. The woman wore a kimono and on the top of her head was a pair of fox ears. Such animal characteristics were not that uncommon as a few of the clans within Sunagakure possess these traits. Smoke came out of the lantern and as she was nearly upon him he would smell the scent of burning incense.

Hakuren was quite happy about today for her custom mask was finally finished. Each anbu has their own unique mask but for some reason or another in took some time for hers to get made. During this time of waiting for her mask she had to wear a blank mask which was laughable. The ears on her head were fake, but made from real fur. Anbu do tend to keep their true identity secret and Hakuren thought a little misdirection couldn’t hurt.

Hakuren would turn her head towards Nobu thus revealing the mask to him. To most it would look like a normal anbu mask, although the eyes of the painted face were close and of course that means there were no eye holes. “Greetings, what bring you to the gates this night?” As Hakuren spoke the voice would become distorted as it goes through a built-in voice modulator. Despite the distortion her tone was gentle and kind.

Almost immediately after asking the question a white fox approaches Hakuren coming from the direction of the gates. Hakuren picks up the vixen and cradles it in her arm like a newborn. Looking into the memories of the fox it seems the Anbu that was placed in charge of letting people out fell asleep at his post holding a bottle of sake. If it wasn’t for the mask Nobu would see an unamused look on her face right now. She is most definitely going to have a word with this individual later.

 

[Uchiha Kouhei]

Indeed, Nobu was sweating bullets by the time night fell over the Sunagakure gate. Despite there being plenty of room for him to take a seat and wait, Nobu spent most of his time pacing back and forth. He was far too nervous to be able to sit down and relax as long as he was still inside the gates. Nervous and excited, he added internally. The story of Domen Tsubasa formed a line from the heart of Sunagakure all the way to the misty shores of the Land of the Moon. If Nobu simply followed that path... Well, he had no idea what he’d find at the end.

The boy almost jumped when he smelled the incense, which he noticed before the person carrying the lantern. When he registered the fox-eared woman he instead slowly got to his feet, eyes on her. The mask told him she was ANBU, but there was no way of knowing whether she came to let him out or to send him back home. The Domen had little direct power, but they had funds and the dogged stubbornness needed to nudge shinobi into doing jobs for them.

The lack of eyeholes in the mask made Nobu uncomfortable, but her words didn’t seen to indicate she was there to retrieve him for the family’s purposes. “Uh, I want to leave.” came the response from underneath the ragged cloak. For a moment Nobu didn’t react any further, before exclaiming “Oh!” and reaching under his ‘disguise’.

His hand came back out with two passports, both the paper one and the chakra-attuned crystal that served as more advanced identification. He held it up to the unknown ANBU woman, hoping to get left out soon.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Hakuren takes her lantern and firmly pounds the stick into the ground hard enough that it impales it more than a few inches into the sands below. Hakuren lets go, but is ready to catch the stick if it start to show signs of falling. After she was sure it wasn’t going to shift on her she reaches out to grab the paper passport. She could not do this while holding both the fox and the lantern. She couldn’t put down the fox for she would be serving as Hakuren’s eyes to read the passport. Hakuren holds the paper under the light of the lantern. “Moon Country for a year, huh.” Hakuren was not to pleased with the passport. A war with the daimyo soon approaches and sunagakure is going to need every good man. However the papers were approved and valid. Hakuren feels like she is going to have a few words with a quite a few people in the coming days. “Everything seems to be in order.” Hakuren hands the passport back to him and she pulls the stick out of the ground. “Please follow me.” Carrying the lantern she guides him out of the gates.

[leave granted]